
Jamie and Danielle Walsh - TEACHERS

Jamie and Danielle Walsh have a few things in common. They met while
studying education at ACU’s Ballarat Campus and are now married with three
children. They also both teach at All Saints Parish School in Portland,
Victoria, the same school that their children attend.
Danielle Walsh, teacher at All Saints Parish School and ACU
education graduate.
“I have always loved interacting with children and seeing the world through
their eyes. Teaching was always at the back of my mind as a possible career,
and after completing some work experience at a local school I knew that I
wanted to be involved in nurturing and inspiring young minds to the best of
their potential – so I enrolled at ACU to study education.
I now work as a foundation teacher as I love teaching students how to read
and write. It is so fulfilling to see the progression over the year and see
the excitement in their little faces when they realise they can do it!
ACU was also where I met my husband, Jamie. He was my orientation camp
leader in my first year. I think we both caught each other’s eye and that
was it! We dated all through uni, got engaged a couple of years later and
then married in 1999.
Jamie is also a teacher and he works at the same school as I do. I love
working with my husband as he is such a great support. He is an amazing
teacher and I often ask his advice. It is also nice to be able to
occasionally blow off steam about teaching and for him to know where I am
coming from. He understands all the pressures and joys of teaching, so that
mutual understanding helps to keep things in perspective on a daily basis.
Our children also attend the school where we teach. This year is very
special because we have our whole family at All Saints Parish School
together. It is great to have everyone in the same place – a one stop shop!
My husband and I share a lot of similarities, but we are also different. We
are mostly similar in terms of our values and goals in life. We took some
long service leave last year to travel Australia with our three children
before our youngest started school. It was a brilliant trip with so many
amazing experiences that made us both realise that we would like to travel
more.”
Jamie Walsh, teacher at All Saints Parish School and ACU education
graduate.
“I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher when I was about
11-years-old. Around grade 10 I had a rethink of my career choice and
applied for some apprenticeships as a chef, however I soon returned the idea
of teaching and decided to become a primary school teacher because of
previous teachers who had inspired me. Also, as I grew up I enjoyed being
involved in helping younger people, particularly in sporting areas and
coaching.
I find the most rewarding thing about teaching is seeing the way children
respond when they are challenged and experience success. Knowing that you
have helped a child be successful, no matter how big or small the success,
is great. However, teaching isn’t without its challenges and I think the
main difficulty is finding ways to motivate some children within the normal
classroom environment.
Despite Danielle’s and my many career similarities, our teaching styles are
different. Danielle teaches in foundation level and I teach levels five and
six. It is great working with her. I find us both being a teacher is good
support because we easily understand issues the other may have faced.
However there are down sides, for example it is harder for us to switch off
when we get home because it can be really easy to talk about work.
Our children attending the same school that we teach at has both challenges
and advantages. One benefit is that mornings are a lot easier – we don’t
have to drive all over town to drop off at day care and then to school. We
are lucky that our children are also understanding of our work situation,
especially on meeting nights. I suppose issues could arise, but to avoid
things becoming problematic, we have put some things in place to make sure
everything works out.
Last year I taught our eldest daughter, Molly, in grade five and I found it
worked well – although Molly might disagree! As I had one of my own children
in class I did adapt a few things so that Molly didn’t miss out or wasn’t
seen to be favoured. At least I knew for sure how much homework she had!
Danielle and I also have an arrangement with the children to leave school at
school and home at home. This also applies to their friends; we are not Mr
and Mrs Walsh at home or anywhere outside of school for our children’s
friends. We’re a close family and our situation works for us.”
(Source: ACU InSight, Issue 9,
Winter 2013).
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